The sold-out craft beer festival, which is a fundraising event for the Cooper-Young Community Association, showcases breweries within a day’s drive from Memphis, plus beer from Memphis-area homebrewers.

Rain had threatened the festival, but it stayed pretty dry, and the festival might have been the best yet. I felt the beers were particularly strong this year, featuring an impressive variety of styles, and the vibe was as laid-back as ever.

My goal this year was to sample beers from breweries that were largely unfamiliar to me. I had some really great beers — so picking my favorites was tough — but here’s my Top 5 beers from the festival :

2. “Peanut Butter AstroNut Brown,” Rocket Republic Brewing Company, Madison, AL — People looked at me with raised eyebrows when I suggested they try the “peanut butter beer” from Rocket Republic, but I think a lot of folks were won over by this American Brown Ale. The peanut butter was surprisingly subtle, adding just enough sweetness to make this a beer a winner.

3. “Breakfast Stout,” Bluff City Brewers & Connoisseurs, Memphis, TN — Brewed by homebrewer Adam Steele, the recipe is essentially the “Brewing Classic Styles” oatmeal stout, using a Randall to infuse the beer with Ugly Mug coffee beans. Adam also cold-steeped the roasted grains, pasteurized them at 180 degrees for 10 minutes and added directly to the fermenter. The result was a delicious coffee stout.

4. “Brother Joseph’s Belgian Dubbel,” Straight to Ale, Huntsville, AL — At 8% ABV, this was a surprising smooth abbey-stye ale with enough flavor that I could still taste the rich malt and fruit character after sampling beers for 3.5 hours.

5. “Masked Bandit India Pale Ale,” Piney River Brewing Co., Bucyrus, MO — There were plenty of hoppy beers on tap at the festival, but I particularly liked this well-balanced black rye IPA., hopped with Amarillo, Citra and Centennial.

What were the best beers you tried? Leave a comment below.

Here are some more photos from the event:

The festival drew nearly 1,000 people and sold out in record time.

Nashville’s Yazoo Brewing Company is always a festival favorite. Yazoo’s Ivan Chester (not pictured) brought some special brews for the occasion.

Memphis Made Brewing’s Andy Ashby poured beers at the festival that he helped found five years ago.

Beers from the Bluff City Brewers & Connoisseurs and Memphis Brewers Association — Memphis’ two homebrew clubs — were popular as always!

There’s a 60 percent chance for storms on Saturday, according to the latest weather reports, and festival organizers are planning for rain.

“For the first time, there is rain forecast for the CY Beerfest this Saturday. This is a rain-or-shine event since we have brewers from around the region in town, and they have to leave Sunday to get back to making the fresh beer you love,” according to a post Wednesday on the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest Facebook page. “We are getting bigger tents than we originally planned so that there will be more cover in case it rains. Please look at the forecast before you head out and bring your raincoat/umbrella if it looks like rain.”

Earlier, there was this humorous tweet:

Anyone have 1000 umbrellas we could borrow Saturday? Asking for a friend . . . #CYBeerFest

Tennessee Brew Works held a tasting last week at Cash Saver’s Madison Growler & Bottle Shop, and I stopped by to meet co-founder Christian Spears and try out the brews.

All the beers I tried were really solid, but my favorites were Country Roots — the best sweet potato stout I’ve ever tasted — and Basil Ryeman — a smooth farmhouse ale brewed with Thai basil. The Cutaway IPA is also excellent.

Look for these beers on tap around Memphis soon and, of course, at Saturday’s sold-out Cooper Young beerfest, if you’re lucky enough to have a ticket.

The microbrewery, which just celebrated its first anniversary, has selected A.S. Barboro as its Memphis distribution partner and will start sending kegs of beer to Bluff City bars, restaurants and growler shops this week.

“This is a big moment for us,” said Tennessee Brew Works co-founder Christian Spears, who added the brewery was thrilled to expand west into Memphis. The beer has been available so far in Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and other Middle and East Tennessee locations.

Spears said Southern Wit, which is available at the Tennessee Titans’ LP Field, has become the brewery’s best seller.

He described the brewery’s approach to making beer like that of a homebrewer, and “food is always in mind.”

“We want (the beer) to be unique and interesting … but we also try to make it approachable,” Spears said.

Tennessee Brew Works is planning sampling events at bars and restaurants over the next two weeks — most of them next week — as part of the brewery’s Memphis roll-out. Tennessee Brew Works will also serve its beer at the 5th annual Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest, coming up Oct. 11.